I aligned my little contractor saw when I first set it up. I check it when I change blades, or load it on the truck for a move. Only had to re-align once(in twelve years, after my helper dropped his end).

Depends on how many other people use it. AND how rough people are on it. I rarely let others on my good saw. I check it if I have to move it. Rarely do I have to make any adjustments. If its cutting smooth and straight…..WHY FIX IT.

I’ve never had to do anything to mine once I got it set up, adjusted, and alighned from the get-go….My saw never moves, and it’s dead-on accurate on every cut…..It’s been in the same spot going on 3 years.. I bought it in 2009, moved it in, and that’s it…...Rock solid, and dead-on….Actually both of my saws are like that since I’ve got them back-to-back wdith an outfeed between them…...they are there to stay…..!!!

From the looks of the responses. A good table will not go out of alignment if it’s not whacked or moved too much. That’s good to know. I’m going to be doing all the alignments soon on my project and wanted to gauge how much one of those alignment tools would come in hand. I guess I’ll be skipping the alignment tool!

Joe – no fancy tools needed. A simple combination square can be used. Just place the short edge in the miter slot and line up the end of the rule with the blade and run it back and forth sliding in the miter slot. Distance to the blade should be constant. Turn it around and measure from the miter slot to the fence. You’re not looking for the absolute distance, just the variation along the length of the fence. It takes only a couple of minutes to do this check and while not super precise, if the rule comes away from the fence or the blade at all, you’ll know it.

-- Some problems are best solved with an optimistic approach. Optimism shines a light on alternatives that are otherwise not visible.

Good timing. I checked mine a couple of days ago. After about 18 months of usage it hadn’t changed. I did have to make a small adjustment to my sliding compound miter saw – after 3 years. Of course me being the genius that I am I checked them both and after checking them bought new blades. Now I get to do it again.